A/N: Hey everyone! I'm back after a long time. I'm really sorry for the lack of update because I've been so tied up with work. It's going to be hectic until next week so I'll try my best to upload the next chapter real soon. Anyways just FYI, I decided to use Mystogan because I like the mysterious part of him when behind that mask, it's actually Gerard so we'll get there(:

The Princess and the Dragon Slayer

Chapter 17

It didn't take long for us to find them since we were smart enough to ask around. I couldn't sniff her out because her scent seem to be mixed around but thanks to Aries, we were able to find them in the dining room. We managed to sneak into the dining room without being noticed and also found ourselves a good spot to hide. Hopefully, we won't blow our cover so it was certainly important for us to stay quiet.

I took a good look around the room and it seems that the weird guy, the king and Lucy were not alone. Virgo and Capricorn were also in the room. Virgo was at Lucy's side aiding her I believe while Capricorn looked like he was standing on guard. Man, I envy their position. They could be with Lucy anytime!

As Loki and I slowly peeked over the wall, I saw that there were food on the table. I guess they're having dinner together. Well, I don't even know how that weird guy is going to eat with a mask over his mouth but that's not my concern now though I'm actually a bit curious.

Anyways, we watched the whole discussion and conversation took place between that weird guy and the king. As for Lucy, it clearly shows from her expression that she was bored but I got to hand it to her, she was pretty good to be able to put on a façade of looking interested but deep down, she wasn't. Hell, who wouldn't be bored when you're involved in a boring conversation. I know I'm not that smart but I do know that they were conversing about the economy and shit. To me, that's extremely boring and I would be easily irritated. Maybe I will start burning things up. I don't know how Lucy was able to withstand being cooped up for so long in such conversations. I bet that's what she got to do since she was a princess and just seeing her in this situation, she's already giving me the aura that she's a wonderful princess.

"I have to thank you your majesty for inviting Edolas kingdom over. It's an honor that our kingdoms are able to meet up under short notice."

"Pish posh Mystogan, you do not have to thank me at all. Your father -" Then everyone in the room suddenly said hail to the king together with raising their glasses in the air well except for Capricorn and Virgo though where they just pretended they had glasses in their hand. "Was my closest friend and associate in this realm."

I turned back and pulled Loki along as well.

"What?" Loki whispered shouted at me.

"Why did they need to do that? It was kind of creepy."

Loki face-palmed himself before answering me. "Look, when a person in the royal line passed away, we have to say hail to the king or queen but that is when we're talking about the person."

"Oh." And with that, I took his answer and decided to peep over again.

"My apologies your majesty that I went off topic earlier but what do you suggest that we can proceed on to keep the economy stable between our two kingdoms?" The weird guy asked the king and in response, the king chuckled.

"Oh I'm so glad you asked that Mystogan." The king looked at Lucy which I saw Lucy was confused as she blinked a few times at her father. "Lucy, meet your fiance."

WHAT?!

"WHAT?!" Lucy screamed as she stood up and slammed her palms on the table. Woah, both of us had the same reaction.

"Lucy!" Her father retaliated back against her attitude. "What's with the preposterous attitude?"

"Me? Preposterous?" Lucy scoffed. "What about you father? Getting me engaged without my acknowledgement and furthermore to a guy I just met a hour ago?!"

"Lucy!" The king bellowed and with that, got Lucy to shut her mouth. "I don't remember bringing you up with no manners! What happened if Layla were to see you like this?"

Oh damn, that got to hurt since there was a still silence afterwards. I just wanted to come out from my hiding place to hug and support Lucy and maybe even talk her father down about giving her some rights but Loki's words just keep on ringing through my head. Keep my emotions at bay, keep my emotions at bay.

When I realized my heart was suddenly starting to beat very fast, I had to turn back and leaned against the pillar. I clenched onto the part of my shirt that was over my heart and tried to control myself. I was so afraid that my power was going to emerge out from my body but I had to withstand myself from doing so and it was due to what I believe was my god damn emotions!

After hearing her father was asking her to marry someone else, I couldn't accept the fact. What happened if Lucy had no choice but to marry the guy? Where does that leave me? I knew that if that really happens, I will definitely go crazy. Right now all I could think was that she's my mate and no one is allowed to take her away from me. No one!

I have to find a way to stop this from happening but for now, I had to calm down. I took slow deep breaths hoping it will lower my anxiety level and once it did helped a bit, I decided to peep over again and this time, I saw Lucy was looking down with her fists clenched at her sides.

"If mother was around…" Lucy looked up at her father but what surprised me was that she wasn't looking at him with scared or weak eyes, she was glaring at him with sheer determination. "She would asked my opinion before deciding on something Father." The king flinched after Lucy made that statement to him.

I think it made him embarrassed or most probably furious because it looked like he was about to slam his hands on the table but stopped, when the weird guy spoke up.

"Your majesty may I please intrude in this discussion." Since there was no response from the king and Lucy, the weird guy continued on. "Is there a need to married your daughter? I don't mean to be rude but I believe there's another way to stable the economy."

Alright! You're awesome weird guy. I turned to look at Lucy's direction and I could see a smile was slowly creeping onto her face.

I heard the king let out a big and heavy sigh before he took the opportunity to speak. "Mystogan, may I have a word with you alone?"

The weird guy nodded his head before turning his face to Virgo. "Virgo, is it? Would you mind company the princess for a walk?" Without any hesitation, I saw Virgo nodded her head to the weird guy before walking up to Lucy.

"Hime." Virgo pulled her chair out and with that, Lucy bowed to them before walking away from the table with Virgo following behind her.

Before I could even move away from my spot, Loki pulled me down which earned him a glare.

"Where do you think you're going?" Loki whispered shouted at me.

"Where else? I'm going to follow Lucy." I said as I tugged my arm away from Loki. I quickly run to one pillar to hide behind before running to the next. This time, I didn't see Loki following me as I saw he shook his head before he continue to peep on them again so I guess I'm going to find Lucy on my own this time. Before I left the dining room though, I took one good glance at the two men sitting at the table and only to see no conversation was exchanged between them but only silence.

I ran down the halls as quietly as I could as I sniffed for Lucy and followed her scent. This time I could figure out where she went as I recognized Virgo's scent and I could also differentiate between them. Lucy's scent led me out to her favorite place, the garden. I just feel like slapping myself. I should have known that this will be the first place she would be at besides her room or the library.

I stood there for a while as I stared at her back. Honestly, I didn't know what words to say to her. First thought in my mind was just to hold her in my arms and kiss her all day but I don't know if that is suitable right now. Whatever it is I just started to walk up to her slowly and I guess she felt my presence as she turned to me and a smile was plastered on her face.

"Hey Luce."

She stood up and I was standing right in front of her now. I couldn't help but to raise my hand and put the tresses of the hair that was hanging behind her ear. She looked so sad that I could help but to cup her cheek.

"Hey Natsu." She replied back with her eyes glued to the ground instead as she placed her hands together at the back, not making any initiative to look at me. I removed my hand away once I noticed that she didn't want to talk to me.

"I'll head back to the hay stack if you don't want to talk to me." I turned around and was about to walk away feeling deadly sad actually but Lucy stopped me.

"No Natsu! Wait!" Lucy shouted as she grabbed my hand. My heart was thumping rather loudly maybe to my ears since they're pretty sensitive. "I-I gotta tell you something." She said it quite fast but I managed to catch what she was trying to say.

I pulled my hand away from her grasp and placed my hands at the side of my hips, letting out a big sigh before answering her. "If this is about your father getting you to married that weird guy, I already knew."

Lucy's eyes were like dinner plates now. I guess she was shocked and surprised on how I knew it that fast. "How?"

"I kind of follow you with Loki. I didn't want to let you out of my sight for a minute." I paused before looking away as I placed one hand behind my head. "Besides we rarely see each other nowadays so I really missed you." I could feel my cheeks turning even hotter now than my abnormal body temperature.

"Oh Natsu!" And with that, Lucy threw herself onto me and I immediately embraced her tightly in my arms.

A/N: And that's it for this chapter people. How was it? Please do leave me a review ok? I'm very thankful for all the wonderful support and review that I received from some of you. This is why I keep on writing during whatever free time I have so that you guys can get to know what happened next like fast.^^